Ancients of Ooga - First Screenshots

It’s time for a first look at NinjaBee’s next Xbox LIVE® Arcade original title, Ancients of Ooga, the upcoming action-adventure platformer from development team J. Kenworthy Entertainment, the team that created Cloning Clyde.

These screenshots from an early beta version of the game reveal a first look into the Oogani world where this new action-adventure platformer takes place.

Though not a sequel to Cloning Clyde, developers of the title consider Ancients of Ooga to be the classic XLA game’s spiritual successor. The game was heavily influenced by Cloning Clyde, taking on characteristics like extremely unique gameplay, a distinct artistic style, a cast of characters bursting with personality, and a dose of random, silly humor.

“The Ooganis aren’t your typical heroes,” said Brent Fox, NinjaBee’s art director. “But that’s what makes this game so fun to play. They’re quirky, bizarre, and at times borderline foul. An Oogani’s world is centered around eating. You have to eat, chant, dance and even puke your way through the primeval land of Ooga. This is definitely the most gluttonous game you’ll play in 2010 – it’s gonna be out of this world!”

Ancients of Ooga is set in a bizarre, tribal universe where, to the Ooganis, it’s customary to eat anything you can get your hands on. Meet, befriend, and finally acquire several other zany Oogani tribes. Uncover their lost, ancient powers and exploit their abilities to lead them in a revolt against the tyrannical Boolis. There are over 50 amazing levels, great replay, plus, narcotic slugs that make you loopy!

This 2 1/2D-side-scrolling adventure is packed with puzzle solving, bad-guy fighting, ladder-climbing, catapulting, strange-object eating, puking enjoyment. Nearly anything is edible: dried wormies, charcoal, peppers, and yes, even your Oogani brothers. But be careful what you eat – while some objects can give your Oogani special powers, others won’t have such a pleasant effect.

A World of Keflings Coming to Xbox LIVE Arcade

NinjaBee announces sequel to hugely popular XLA title, A Kingdom for Keflings

OREM, Utah – Feb. 2, 2010 – It’s official. Those oddly cute, yet addictively sweet Keflings are back… in a big way. Independent video games developer NinjaBee has confirmed that A World of Keflings, a sequel to the enormously popular A Kingdom for Keflings, is coming to Xbox LIVE® Arcade in 2010.

“A World of Keflings is much more than a sequel,” said Steve Taylor, President of NinjaBee. “It's a new game with a ton of new features, including some innovative ideas that stand out from both Live Arcade and full retail games. A World of Keflings also has a new story focus, with new exotic lands, characters, quests, buildings, customization options, and a lot more.”

A World of Keflings is the bigger, more complete chronicle of the Kefling world where players can play as their Xbox LIVE® avatar and explore and build in the different Kefling lands. Each new kingdom has its own climate and Kefling culture. In addition, each kingdom contains its own unique resources, buildings and tech tree.

“When we set out to make a second Keflings game we decided that we were going to do it right and make it a whole new experience that clearly was bigger and better than the first,” said Brent Fox, NinjaBee’s Art Director. “A World of Keflings captures all the charm and casual-style of play of the first game, but adds more depth, humor and a ton of features players have requested.”

One of the most asked-for features included in the Keflings sequel is local multiplayer. Players will be able to build an entire world for the Keflings together with their spouse, boyfriend, girlfriend, kids, friends or whomever on the same console.

NinjaBee has been teasing concept art for the new game each week this month. To see the revealed artwork visit www.NinjaBee.com/blog/. NinjaBee plans to release A World of Keflings later this year, though a specific release date has not yet been established.

A World of Keflings is NinjaBee’s third XLA title to support playable avatars and is the second title NinjaBee has announced it is bringing to XLA in 2010. The other, Ancients of Ooga, was announced last fall.

And the new game is...!

We're sorry... but our game announcement is in another castle.



Exclusive reveal at IGN.com: http://xboxlive.ign.com/articles/106/1064967p1.html

XBLA Game Announcement Coming Thursday!

You may have noticed, there's no new art today:( That's because this week's new art will be included with the game's official announcement.

Sorry to keep you waiting, but check back on Thursday for the big announcement about our next XBLA avatar game!

New Avatar Game Concept Art - Week 3

Here's some more art from our next XBLA game with playable avatars to hold you over till next week's official announcement! If you have a guess as to what the game is, weigh in with a comment!

New Concept Art for Upcoming XBLA Game w/Avatars - Week 2

As promised, here's another installment of concept art from our next new Xbox Live Arcade game with playable avatars. Check back next Tuesday for more new art from the game!

Another New XBLA Game with Avatars!

It's time for another big announcement: NinjaBee is working on another game for Xbox Live Arcade with playable avatars!

The Project
We're going to make the official announcement with more details about the game at the end of the month, but every week in January we're going to give you a look at what we're working on.

Just check back each Tuesday and you can get a first look at concept art of what we've got in production. (Note: This game is NOT Ancients of Ooga, another new game we're bringing to Live Arcade in 2010.)

Can you figure out what this game is all about?

More Concept Art

A Kingdom for Keflings - Deal of the Week!

Happy New Year everyone! A Kingdom for Keflings is this week's Deal of the Week on the Xbox Live Marketplace. Gold members can pick it up for just 400 Microsoft Points! http://bit.ly/4LAPdU

It's a New Years Miracle!

A Kingdom for Keflings DLC Preview

Take a look at the new DLC for a Kingdom for Keflilngs. This video has a sneak peak at a feature from an upcoming game we haven't announced yet.

As for the price of the DLC, each of the two Kingdom Packs will cost 160 Microsoft Points.

More Kingdoms for your Keflings

NinjaBee announces first DLC for A Kingdom for Keflings

OREM, Utah – Worsening conditions due to overpopulation in Kefling Kingdoms has prompted drastic action by independent video games developer NinjaBee, announcing today it would act quickly and decisively to resolve the problem by providing four new kingdoms as downloadable content for its popular Xbox LIVE® Arcade title, A Kingdom for Keflings.

NinjaBee has also set a date, promising the new Kingdoms would be available for Keflings and avatars alike on Dec. 9, 2009.

“To be honest, it’s about time!” said one giant avatar who wished to remain anonymous. “It’s gotten to the point where you can’t even turn around without kicking one of those little guys. It’s getting out of hand, I mean, they’re like rabbits!”

The new DLC is the first to be released for the avatar-based XBLA title and will be released separately as Kingdom Pack 1 and Kingdom Pack 2, each containing two new playable kingdoms.

Kingdom Pack 1

This Kingdom Pack brings a fresh perspective to the original game with brand new Kingdom layouts. The Orchard Kingdom puts some new and interesting twists on the Classic Kingdom, and Kingdom Crossroads gives a new pace to your game. Luckily, the Keflings are still just as nice in both Kingdoms.

Kingdom Pack 2

The new layouts in this Kingdom Pack are not for the faint Giant at heart. The mysterious Relic Kingdom will force you to explore every inch of the map to find your way around, and the challenging Central Kingdom is definitely meant for the more advanced player. Previous Kefling management experience is a plus.

Screenshots
Take a look at just a few images taken from the new Kingdoms.

A recent update to A Kingdom for Keflings made the new DLC possible adding a new menu where players choose the map they wish to play. The update also made Keflings stronger, allowing transporters to carry three resources instead of one, and protected online games from griefers, making hosts and their friends the only players who can destroy buildings.

Vote for 'Sposion Man!

We've got a quick plug for some of our good friends and fellow indie developers, Twisted Pixel:

Have you played 'Splosion Man yet on Xbox LIVE Arcade? If you haven't you should check it out, we highly recommend it. It's a really cool, fun game and it's been selected in the 2009 Spike TV Video Game Awards as a nominee for Best Indie Game.

This year the winners will largely be decided from the public vote, so if you're a 'Splosion Man fan you should go show your support for 'Splosion Man and Twisted Pixel by giving it your vote on Spike TV's Web site. You can vote now by clicking here!

A Kingdom for Keflings coming to PC

Beta testers wanted

Orem, Utah – Nov. 13, 2009 – NinjaBee, a division of Wahoo Studios and a leading independent video games developer, has announced its award-winning Xbox LIVE® Arcade title, A Kingdom for Keflings, is coming to PC.

“Bringing A Kingdom for Keflings to the PC audience has been a priority for us.” said Brent Fox, NinjaBee’s Art Director. “It’s been a runaway hit on XLA and we are offering the same, high-quality game on the PC. We are proud and we’re excited to finally make it available to so many of those who haven’t been able to play before.”

The popular, innovative city-building game originally arrived on Xbox LIVE Arcade on Nov. 19, 2008 and a year later remains among the downloadable service’s most downloaded titles. Featuring a light-hearted, play-at-your-own-pace style of gameplay with beautiful visuals and catchy, frolicsome music, A Kingdom for Keflings offers players a relaxing, fun experience that is unexpectedly addictive. A Kingdom for Keflings was voted the 2008 Xbox LIVE Arcade Award-winner for Best Family Game.

No official release date has been announced, but NinjaBee is beginning beta testing and is accepting applications for beta testers. Interested persons should visit NinjaBee’s forums (http://ninjabee.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=17969) for details on how to apply. Testers will receive a free copy of the game in exchange for their feedback.

For more information about A Kingdom For Keflings visit http://ninjabee.com/akfk/index.html.

About NinjaBee

NinjaBee, located in Orem, Utah, began developing games in 2004. With every game they make, NinjaBee’s goal is to create a unique, top-quality, fun experience for people of all ages. Their popular titles include Outpost Kaloki X, Cloning Clyde, Band of Bugs, Boingz, Doritos Dash of Destruction and A Kingdom for Keflings.

For more information, please contact the numbers above or visit http://www.NinjaBee.com.

Wahoo Studios and NinjaBee are registered trademarks of Wahoo Studios, Inc. All other company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. Copyright © 2009 Wahoo Studios, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

Ghost in the Shell Premium Theme

As of this morning you can now get the Ghost in the Shell Premium Theme for your Xbox 360 Dashboard. And since you can't look at it before you buy it, we want to give you a little taste of what it looks like.

Keep in mind, the images here aren't finished screenshots. What you see here are our production screenshots that have placeholder boxes instead of real content. But this will give you an idea of what it looks like before you go out there and spend 240 big ones (Microsoft Points) on it.
FAQS

-You can find the GITS Premium Theme under "Anime Presented by Xbox360" under the "Themes and Gamer Pictures" section on your dashboard

-Priced at 240 MS Points

-This is not actually a NinjaBee product. It belongs to Starz Media. They hired us (our Wahoo Studios division that does contract work for other publishers) to make it for them.
Main Dashboard

Friends Channel

Games Channel

Media Channel

System Page

NinjaBee Releases Kaloki War, Completes Conversion of Full Xbox 360 Game to iPhone

Kaloki War Released for iPhone and iPod touch

OREM, Utah – Oct. 19, 2009 – Utah-based video game developer NinjaBee is proud to announce the release of Kaloki War, the third and final chapter of the Kaloki series for iPhone™ and iPod® touch. The release completes NinjaBee’s first conversion of a full Xbox 360 game to the iPhone. The game is available on the iTunes App Store (http://linktoapp.com/kaloki+war) for US $1.99.

“This isn’t the first Xbox game to be adapted to the iPhone,” said NinjaBee’s art director and co-owner Brent Fox. “But what makes these games special are that they’re not a ‘dumbed down’ version of the original. You get the full content from the Xbox 360 version and you can take it with you wherever you go.”

Kaloki War contains the complete combat scenario from Outpost Kaloki X, one of the original launch titles for the Xbox 360’s downloadable service, Xbox LIVE® Arcade. Aside from adding the new combat/defense element to the space station tycoon-game series, Kaloki War adds additional content including ten new levels and four bonus scenarios. From start to finish NinjaBee’s three iPhone games contain around 25 hours of cumulative gameplay. Each game is also equipped with an auto-save feature that makes picking it up and playing easy for short, on-the-go-type situations or for longer periods of time.

“The games utilize the iPhone’s touch functionality extremely well,” said Kevin Heap, the lead programmer for the Kaloki games. “It makes them really fun to play. It feels like the game was originally designed for the iPhone.”

Kaloki War is the perfect challenge for aspiring space station tycoons. Players must strategize to build up profitable and efficient space stations while trying to defend them from hostile marauders. The game offers new buildable expansions previously unavailable in the other two Kaloki games that will help them strengthen their stations' defenses to survive in an intense race against time. Players who fail to build up their station in time face total destruction from an onslaught of relentless attackers.

The three iPhone games make up the three storylines from the Xbox version of the game. The newly released Kaloki War contains the game’s war story, adding combat and a heightened level of intensity. Kaloki Adventure, the largest of the three games, contains the adventure plot where players must hone their space station management skills and work their way through the story’s 16 comedic levels. In Kaloki Love iPhone users can play the game’s love story, where they seek to balance building up their space station and a quest to find true love.

Kaloki Adventure, and Kaloki Love are also available on the iTunes App Store for US $1.99, and $0.99 respectively. For more information about Kaloki War please visit http://ninjabee.com/ikalokiwar/.

A Kingdom for Keflings gets title update

Keflings get stronger, kingdom gets safer

Have you ever played A Kingdom for Keflings on Xbox Live and some griefer comes into your game and starts smashing up all the buildings your kingdom? Don’t you just HATE that? So do we. So we fixed it.

In case you didn’t notice the last time you played A Kingdom for Keflings, NinjaBee has updated the game. Many of the update’s new features will likely go unnoticed but two new features should make most gamers smile.

First, random players can no longer come into multiplayer games played on Xbox Live and break your buildings. Only gamers who you have accepted as friends on Live will have the ability to break buildings in games you host.

Second, all of your Keflings just got a big helping of electronic spinach. (Well, not a BIG helping.) From now on transporter Keflings can now carry three resources instead of just one. Hooray!

Other fixes include various performance issues and other minor bugs. Plus, the new update enables the game to support new, future DLC….

NinjaBee gives away 3 weeks of free Love!

iPhone Apps go on sale

Whoa there, don’t get too excited - it’s not THAT kind of free love. We’re getting ready to launch the third and final game in the Kaloki series for iPhone and iPod touch, Kaloki War! So, to prepare for the new game (coming in the VERY near future) NinjaBee is placing our first two iPhone/iPod touch games, Kaloki Adventure and Kaloki Love, on sale for three weeks on the iTunes App Store!

For a short time you can now get Kaloki Adventure for just $1.99 and Kaloki Love for FREE!

Aren’t free games awesome? Especially really cool ones that are iPhone versions of award-winning XBLA games that you can take with you anywhere and provide you with hours and hours of challenging, entertaining, portable electronic bliss?

No need to thank us, and no applause, please. (Just throw money.)

Note: Kaloki Adventure has a tutorial but Kaloki Love does not. If you would like one you can download the lite version of Kaloki Adventure (Kaloki Free) for free.

NinjaBee Reveals Title to Cloning Clyde’s ‘Spiritual Successor’

Ancients of Ooga coming to Xbox Live Arcade

OREM, Utah – Aug. 31, 2009 – NinjaBee and J. Kenworthy Entertainment, the creative team that envisioned and developed Cloning Clyde for Xbox LIVE Arcade, revealed today the title of their next XBLA game - Ancients of Ooga. Along with this announcement the developers also unveiled the first piece of concept art from the upcoming title.

“Ever since we released Cloning Clyde we’ve been bombarded with requests for a sequel,” said John Nielson, founder of J. Kenworthy Entertainment. “Although Ancients of Ooga is not a sequel to Cloning Clyde, it is what we like to call a spiritual successor because of how heavy an influence Cloning Clyde had on its creation. Just like Cloning Clyde, Ancients of Ooga is going to bring originality, humor, its own unique artistic style, and extremely creative gameplay to Xbox Live Arcade.”

Cloning Clyde was originally released in July of 2006. No release date has yet been announced for Ancients of Ooga.

Indie Studios NinjaBee and Grubby Games Team Up on WiiWare Title

PAX 10 Winner The Amazing Brain Train coming to WiiWare

OREM, Utah – Aug. 25, 2009 – Indie video game developer NinjaBee is proud to announce it has partnered with fellow indie developer Grubby Games to bring the 2008 PAX 10 Award-winning game - The Amazing Brain Train - to Nintendo WiiWare™, the Wii™ system’s downloadable service, this fall.

“The Amazing Brain Train is a great example of some things that make indie games great – it’s highly creative, visually distinctive, and fundamentally fun to play,” said NinjaBee President and co-founder Steve Taylor.

More than a year of work has been put into fine-tuning The Amazing Brain Train and adapting it for the Wii. The result is a fun, ultra-challenging and addictive brain training game that is unlike any other in the WiiWare library.

“This is no ordinary brain game,” said Ryan Clark, co-founder of Grubby Games. “The Amazing Brain Train contains features never before seen in the genre. It’s a departure from the minimalist brain games we’ve seen in the past. You can forget about goal-less gameplay: The Amazing Brain Train is packed with quests, trophies and high scores that add an aspect of gameplay that other brain games just don’t have.”

Hosted by the diminutive genius Professor Fizzwizzle, the game takes the player on a brain-boosting adventure around the Professor’s cartoon world, stopping to solve challenges and help his friends along the way. Fueled only by mental energy, The Amazing Brain Train guides the player through 15 different mini-games in three addictive game play modes—quest, test and practice.

The ability to save personal, friends’ and family members’ high scores on the same console allows the player to come back time and again to challenge best scores and prove just how smart he or she is.

“Ryan showed me a copy of the game before it came out and after seeing it just once we said ‘This would be perfect for Wii,’” Taylor said. “That’s how this whole project got started. One of the cool things about working with small studios is having the flexibility to do something like this without a big negotiation or interference from a big publisher.”

The Amazing Brain Train was originally released for PC, Mac and Linux in May of 2008 and in July of that year, the game was selected out of hundreds of entries as one of 10 games to be featured at the Penny Arcade Expo.

About NinjaBee

Wahoo Studios, located in Orem, Utah, has been working with publishers to develop games since 2001. They have worked with such clients as Microsoft, Disney, EA, Real Networks and many others. Wahoo’s talented programmers, artists and designers produce creative games that effectively blend innovation, humor and fun game play. In 2004, Wahoo Studios established NinjaBee as an independent brand name. NinjaBee’s popular titles include Outpost Kaloki X, Cloning Clyde, Band of Bugs, Boingz, Doritos Dash of Destruction and A Kingdom for Keflings.

For more information, please contact the numbers above or visit http://www.NinjaBee.com.

Wahoo Studios and NinjaBee are registered trademarks of Wahoo Studios, Inc. All other company names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective owners. Copyright © 2009 Wahoo Studios, Inc., All Rights Reserved.

About Grubby Games

Based in Vancouver, Canada, Grubby Games was formed in October 2004 with a simple goal: To make accessible, polished games that are fun to play. Since then Grubby Games has done just that, producing a number of popular titles including The Amazing Brain Train, My Tribe, Professor Fizzwizzle and the Molten Mystery, FizzBall and Professor Fizzwizzle.

For more information about Grubby Games visit http://grubbygames.com/.

Arcade Afternoon to feature two NinjaBee games

This Saturday (Aug. 15) Xbox LIVE will hold and avatar-themed Arcade Afternoon event, which will feature two NinjaBee games: A Kindom for Keflings and Band of Bugs. If you're missing any multiplayer achievements for either of those games this would be an awesome time to go online and knock those out. Or just come and have a good time playing cool multiplayer games as your avatar. Plus, some of the NinjaBee team will be there. Let's meet up and play.

Podcast Interview with Steve Taylor - President of NinjaBee

Every once in a while it's nice to hear from the brains behind the games. Steve Taylor, co-founder and President of NinjaBee/Wahoo Studios recently made an appearance as the featured guest on the season finale of GoGcast, the video game podcast produced by GatheringOfGamers.com (an online community and social network for gamers).

During the show's 90 minutes Steve opened up about how he came to start a video game company, answered questions about the development and gameplay of some of NinjaBee's most popular games and may even have leaked a little information about our next big (and not-yet-announced) Xbox Live Arcade game.

If you want to hear what Steve had to say, you can find and listen to episode 20 of GoGcast (the Season 2 Finale) here.